“This website, which is a joint project of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, National Association of Social Workers-Tennessee Chapter, and the Tenessee Dept. of Children’s Services, provides access to information about public and private agencies and organizations that can provide help to the people of Tennessee and their families. You can search by the name of the organization or agency you are looking for, or you can search from a number of topics, which include Children’s Issues, Clothing, Domestic Violence, Housing, Money/Employment Assistance, and more. After you select a topic you can search by county or by zip code to find a list of agencies and organizations that might be able to help you. There is also an icon entitled ‘No Health Insurance?’ which, when clicked on, instructs the user how to use the site to search for low-cost and/or free health, dental, or mental health services and prescription (RX) programs.”

Built on the same technology as Google Book Search, Google Patents searches the entire available database from the US Patent and Trademark Office. At this time, it’s probably suggested that a serious searcher continue to use the official search at the USPTO site, but this interface is much easier for the novice!

Are you fabulous? Can you talk Broadway and snap your wrist at the same time? Can you sing along with Julie Andrews? If not, you may want to consider spending a little time at ibdb.com. That’s the Internet Broadway Database, New York’s answer to IMBD. Here you can navigate through the history of musicals, in the very same manner that IMDB allows you to leapfrog around the world of cinema. Only its more fabulous. You can look up any performer and get a full performance history. Or, you can see how long a particular show ran and even how many times it has been performed. Look up a particular venue, and you’ll get a complete rundown of the place’s performance history. Pretty soon you’ll be talking circles around Nathan Lane himself. Now snap on that!

The National Library of Medicine has created this database of health-related toll-free numbers. Users can browse by subject, search by keyword or download the entire 129-page document. Spanish language information is available as well.

Wufoo allows users to create various types of online forms, including registrations, logs, mailing lists, surveys, invitations and calendars. A simple interface and up to three forms are available with free registration. Paid registration offers increased functionality.

Do you love to shop? If so, you may be tempted by unsolicited emails or newspaper ads that claim you can earn a living as a secret or mystery shopper by dining at elegant restaurants, shopping at pricey stores, or checking into luxurious hotels. But, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, marketers who promise lucrative jobs as mystery shoppers often do not deliver bona fide opportunities.

A free educational resource, which contains updated and essential information about the United States gathered from such primary sources as the US Census Bureau, the FBI, and the National Center for Educational Statistics. This site allows a user “to research and compare a multitude of different data on US states.” It uses much visualization technology to provide pie charts, maps, graphs, and scatterplots. Stats are found on everything, as it states on the site, from toothless residents to the percentage of carpool users.

Also a free educational resource, this site is a vast compilation of data that allows graphical comparison of countries and other essential and up-to-date information from such sources as the UN, OECD, and the CIA.

From the National Archives, this interactive site allows users to experience the most influential primary documents in American History. A photograph of the original document accompanies a full citation and historical explanation.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a timeline of the world’s art from 20,000 BCE to the Present with full images and citations. Users can browse/search by subject, artist, time frame, special topic or accession number.